May NPD: PS4 leads hardware sales, month five

For the fifth consecutive month, Sony's PlayStation 4 led sales in the US, beating out Microsoft's Xbox One, NPD Group reported in its May breakdown. Overall hardware sales were up 95 percent from May 2013 to $187 million, and while most of that growth is attributed to PS4 and Xbox One sales, Wii U and Vita sales also grew year-over-year.

"Two examples of hardware bundles that helped to drive hardware sales in May 2014 include Mario Kart 8 bundle for the Wii U, and the Borderlands 2 bundle for the PS Vita," NPD analyst Liam Callahan said.

Software sales jumped up 57 percent year-over-year to $274 million, breaking six months of declines. Callahan called out new launches Watch Dogs, Mario Kart 8, Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Kirby: Triple Deluxe as the reasons for the increase. The No. 1 game in May was Watch Dogs, followed by Mario Kart 8, MLB 14: The Show, Wolfenstein and Minecraft. See the complete list below.

Sony SVP of Brand Marketing Guy Longworth provided an internal analysis of the NPD numbers: "PlayStation continues to be the best place to play for innovative IP, as PS4 was the preferred platform for May's biggest releases, including Watch Dogs and Wolfenstein: The New Order, and held four of the top five spots for next gen software sales. PS4 is the leading next-gen platform for sports, highlighted in May by the best-selling sports game, MLB 14: The Show."